Herr Prop-Wasche

Thank you , Bullethead. So, it seems that the game tracks at least some of the information about what happens to other aircraft during your flight. I guess the question is whether it tracks enough information to help you sort out what happened to whom and then makes that information accessible somewhere in the game files so that an automated program can assemble and display the data for the player. Still doesn't get rid of the random death roll problem, unfortunately. I like your attitude about the random deaths. Still, quite a bit of lazy thinking and programming on Microsoft's part.

This looks like a fantastic mod, Creaghorn! I am currently downloading it and will test it whilst testing my DM mod. Thanks for the contribution.

I feel the urge for a rant tonight. Why doesn't the game accurately report what truly happens to your squad mates? Instead of accurately reporting whether your wing mate was shot down, MIA or KIA, it seems that CFS3 randomly generates outcomes to your squad without any reference to what really happened on your sortie! This really kills the immersion factor, especially if you take pride in taking care of your wingies and like watching their kill tallies grow. This is one part of RB3D I really liked that I wish could be transplanted to OFF. Isn't there any way of accurately keeping track of this? Doesn't the CFS3 engine keep track of the names of your wingmates? If not, is there any way to link the aircraft ID number you see in the AAR's with the names of your mates and so keep track of them that way? This is not a knock on OBD, as it is my understanding that this is a CFS3 game limitation. Even so, it seems a major cock-up on Microsoft's part. How could they design a campaign game that doesn't accurately track the progress of your squad? Am I supposed to win the war all by myself? OFF would be nearly even more perfect if this could be fixed. Okay, I feel better now.

That is most excellent news, Lou! I suppose this also means that my virtual pilot can now "somehow" find himself in possession of a Pour le Merite. (Any rumors that he came into possession of such a prize by scavenging it off a deceased German ace are only rumors, and scandalous at that, requiring pistols at dawn)!

I assume you are talking hockey? Care to make a wager on the U.S. vs. Canada match Sunday evening? I'd offer America's best beer v. Canada's best, but I don't know if it would be fair to send either to the winner!

Hey, congratulations 12 o'clock! Great news and great to hear that you are finally experiencing OFF in all of its glory! I am now looking forward to hearing about your exploits in the main forum.

Ooooh, a Dr I, boat model! Is that triple decked too? Sounds like it leaks too much for my tastes, though, with all of those holes. Since you live in BC, any chance to go see any of the Olympic events? I bet they are horrendously priced.

I don't own ROF, but from what I've heard and so take it with a grain of salt, the FM in ROF is supposedly more "challenging." In practice, I think this means the aircraft are somewhat more difficult to fly. Whether the FM in ROF is more realistic is a completely different question, and one of substantial debate. Same thing with the DM. Some argue the DM in ROF is more accurate, while others complain it is too arcadish and repetitious. Only way to know is for you to try it out yourself. I think ROF now has a demo. I've also heard rumors that they are relaxing their DRM requirement. I wonder why that is???? And, yes, you can play a bit with the damage model in OFF.

carrick58--I like the stock HITR DM, too. My only real gripe is the wings blowing off so easily. These are not 20 or 30 mm cannon rounds being fired at these aircraft. OTOH, many people (myself included, if I am in the mood) get a certain satisfaction from blowing the wings off of an adversary's crate. Ultimately, I don't intend to totally eliminate the chance of blowing off an opponent's wing. I only want to reduce it to a more realistic (IMHO) level. Dej--I'd like to eliminate this discrepancy as well. Unfortunately, even the rookie AI's are real sharpshooters and seem to know exactly where all the critical components are on your aircraft. I think I've found some success lowering the hit probability on the aileron cables from 100% to 90%. Instead of the aileron cable being the first component the AI will hit on your crate, it is now usually something else--usually the aileron itself, interestingly enough. Seems these diabolical AI have a plan: first cripple your aircraft's ability to maneuver, then kill you! Cheeky devils!

Here’s a bit of a progress report on my alternate DM mod for HITR. I have been doing lots of fiddling and testing on various aircraft in QC and feel that I am just about ready to release a “beta” version of the mod. Due to the sheer number of aircraft now available in OFF, I have not been able to thoroughly test EVERY aircraft, so I hope that anyone who decides to give my mod a try will let me know about any weirdness or anomalies they find. Although most of my changes to the HITR DM are fairly small, some changes may have unanticipated consequences for certain aircraft. In particular, I am most in need of feedback about the performance of the early war airplanes and any of the new HITR aircraft with the new DM. The following is a list of most of the changes I have made to the aircraft damage model in OFF and which I am still currently testing: DM changes shared by all aircraft: 1. Probability of striking an aileron cable reduced from 100% to 90%. In stock HITR, the first thing the AI almost always seems to hit on the player’s aircraft is one of the aileron cables—a very thin and hard to hit object. This change seems to reduce, but not eliminate, the tendency for this to happen—especially on the AI’s first pass. 2. Oil and coolant reservoirs hit points slightly reduced; making it slightly easier to eventually cripple aircraft by hitting these vital areas (also produces more smoke trails in combat). 3. Pilot and observer hit points reduced by approximately 15%, resulting in a somewhat greater likelihood of disabling/killing the pilot. Together, 2 and 3 aim to increase the number of kills from shots to “meat or metal,” as UncleAl likes to say. 4. Engine hit points increased slightly and threshold values altered to make engines less vulnerable to minor damage but slightly more susceptible to fire damage. 5. Wing hit point strength weakened slightly overall and .xdp threshold values adjusted to allow for more visible damage effects on more airplanes. 6. Wing roots made stronger with wing tips slightly weaker, resulting in fewer wings getting blown off an airplane, but with wingtips crumpled or damaged more often. Planes with wing damage should now be harder to control, but less likely to experience total wing loss from enemy gun fire. This should reduce the proportion of kills due to total wing loss from something like 40-50% down to approximately 15-20% (Percentages based on my experience using normal gun settings. Your percentage will vary based upon your own realism options as well as your flying and shooting skills). The lower percentage, I believe, more accurately reflects the historically rare event (in WWI) of a given airplane’s wing coming completely off due solely to enemy fire. Miscellaneous DM changes: 1. Hit points on the lower wings of sesquiplane airplanes such as the Albatross DIII, DVa, and Nieuport series reduced to reflect smaller surface area of these wings and to make these airplanes more susceptible to damage from high speed dives and high-g maneuvers. 2. Hit points for upper wing on the Nieuport 28 reduced slightly to reflect potential weakness of wing from prolonged high speed dives. Enter a prolonged full speed dive only at your own risk! 3. Hit points for upper wing on the Fokker Dr I reduced very slightly to reflect possible weakness of upper wing strut on some Dr I’s due to errors in manufacturing. Please feel free to comment or make any suggestions about these proposed changes. I hope to have a beta DM for QC flight only ready for release within the next couple of days. A full DM for campaign use should follow soon after.

Really good advice there. Think I'll call it "Lou's dicta."

I enjoyed it as well. Thanks, WM.

I assume you have checked your power options under control panel?

When I first heard the "Contact! Clear!" I thought that Ringo Starr had been hired to do the voice over for OFF. I was just about to delete it when I found out the voice is Pol's. Didn't have the heart to delete it after that.

I found this at the nVidia drivers page for their beta 196.34 driver: New in Version 196.34 Fixed a bug with v196.21 that prohibited GPU overclocking.

What is your new BIOS number? I noticed at www.asus.com that their latest driver for your MB is #2304, dated 12/11/2009. Latest version of Cool n Quiet is 2.18.1. I'm also downloading your MB manual and will have a look at it later tonight.

12'oclock-- Look at this link (thanks von P): http://www.amd.com/us/Documents/Cool_N_Quiet_Installation_Guide3.pdf Everything I read there seems to indicate Cool n Quiet is still enabled on your setup. For example, "If the displayed clock frequency is approximately 800 MHz, Cool ‘n’ Quiet is enabled and functioning correctly." Try one of the recommended solutions to disable CnQ.

I agree with vonP and ConradB. Do NOT go back to that computer shop. Find another one with experience working with AMD products. Something else strikes me as odd. Isn't Cool n Quiet a technology that was used for Athlon 32's and 64's? I don't think the Phenoms use Cool n Quiet. I went to the AMD website, and although they had Cool n Quiet drivers for Athlon 32's and 64's, there was nothing for Phenoms. Here's another trick you might try. Go to Control Panel and click on Power Options. Click the Power Schemes tab and make sure that minimal power management has not been selected. Choose Home/Office computer instead. Godspeed.

Keep posting. I'm sure there are others who are interested and who may even try to help!

Sorry not to have posted earlier, been feeling a little under the weather today... My guess at this point is that your CPU is not supported by your MB without a BIOS update. Do you have the details on your CPU besides AMD 3.2 GHz? Example: name and/or serial number? I'm not familiar with the latest and greatest, but it might help someone else identify your problem.

Does your BIOS have an "AUTO" setting for CPU multiplier? If so, select that for a start. Looks like your MB has "EZ-Flash 2." This allows you to flash your BIOS by inserting a flash drive with the latest BIOS into a USB port. Look for instructions in your MB manual.

DEFINITELY uninstall AMD Cool n Quiet from your system if you play any games. Go to Control Panel and Add/Remove Programs and look for Cool n Quiet. Click uninstall and reboot. I also agree with von P that you should flash your BIOS. Sixteen updates are a lot of updates that you are missing out on. Flashing the BIOS is simple enough as long as you CAREFULLY follow ALL of the directions. As long as you don't get a power surge or interruption in the middle of flashing your BIOS you should be okay.

35 fps may be a little high for your system. Try lowering it to 32 or even 30. Also check your virtual memory settings. With 2 Gigs of RAM, you should set VM to 3.5 Gbytes.

I have only one thing to say: Okay, two: